The present invention relates to a disc recording and/or reproducing device for receiving and recording/reproducing a plurality of discs.
There is a disc player by way of disc recording and/or reproducing device mounted on motor vehicles for recording and/or reproducing sound. The disc player is constructed to store a plurality of CDs (compact discs) in a magazine and change the whole CDs at a time together with the magazine. This leads to a device enlargement, so that the main body is received in a trunk, while only the part necessary for operation is arranged in a cabin. However, changing CDs is not possible during driving of the vehicle, and requires stop thereof to open the trunk, forming a bothersome affair.
On this account, vehicle-mounted disc players to be received in cabins are developed in recent years. Such vehicle-mounted disc player, which is required to enable storage of a plurality of CDs, is received in a predetermined in-dash space in the cabin. Accordingly, there remains an essential challenge of a reduction in size of the vehicle-mounted disc players.
The vehicle-mounted disc player includes a roughly rectangular-prism casing of a given dimension called 1 DIN size or the like, in which, for example, six trays for individually mounting six CDs thereon are placed one upon another to constitute a disc compartment. Six CDs can individually be loaded and ejected to successively select one of six CDs for reproduction.
A prior-art reference 1 of the vehicle-mounted disc player is constructed such that for selecting and reproducing one of six CDs, six trays for mounting CDs are arranged to be placed vertically one upon another, and a male screw having a greater pitch in the middle portion along the length is formed with a shaft arranged through the trays to obtain a screwed shaft. Rotation of the screwed shaft causes the trays to successively rise from the top. When stopping rotation of the screwed shaft with a selected tray mounting selected CD being located in the middle portion of the screwed shaft, spaces are defined above and below the selected tray. Then, a spindle motor and turntable and a pickup unit are inserted below selected CD to engage a claw protruding upwardly from the center of the turntable with a hole of CD through upward motion of the turntable, mounting CD on the turntable. After withdrawing the turntable, CD is rotated for reproduction.
A prior-art reference 2 is constructed such that after moving CD to be reproduced to a predetermined level position by moving a cartridge upwardly or downwardly, spaces are formed above and below CD to be reproduced by space forming means. A turntable and a chucking plate are introduced into the spaces to chuck CD to be reproduced on the turntable, and an optical pickup is moved from a standby position to a reproduction position.
However, the prior-art reference 1 presented the following problem:
Since the device is not configured to hold CD from both sides for rotation, coupling is not sufficient between the turntable and CD to deteriorate the vibration characteristics during reproduction. In some cases, CD can accidentally be detached from the turntable.
The prior-art reference 2 presented the following problems 1) and 2):
1) The cartridge is moved upwardly or downwardly with respect to the optical pickup fixed at the level position shown by H in FIG. 38, so that for moving the cartridge 201 as illustrated by the solid line from the state of reproducing CD 202 on the uppermost stage to the state of reproducing CD 203 on the lowermost stage of the cartridge 201, the cartridge 201 should be raised to the position as illustrated by the two-dot chain line. As a result, a height T1 of a cartridge receiving space is roughly twice as great as a height T2 of the cartridge 201, forming a bottleneck to a reduction in thickness of the disc player.
2) After movement of CD to be reproduced to a predetermined level position, the space forming means are moved toward the CD to form spaces above and below CD to be reproduced. Turntable and chucking plate are introduced into the spaces to chuck CD on the turntable, and the optical pickup is moved from the standby position to the reproduction startup position. Thus, changing CD requires a lot of time.
Additionally, for accommodation of a plurality of CDs, the device needs to hold parts of operation mechanisms for carrying out various operations such as CD loading, ejection, recording, reproduction, etc., leading to difficult reduction in size of the device in its entirety.
Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a disc recording and/or reproducing device that solves such problems.
For achieving such object, the disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that it comprises: a plurality of disc mounting means for mounting discs thereon; a support means for placing said plurality of disc mounting means one upon another and movably supporting them in the placing direction; a disc driving means for driving a rotation supporting means for rotatably supporting a selected disc; a bias means for biasing said plurality of disc mounting means in one side of the placing direction; and a movable control means, provided with a separation control part for moving a selected disc mounting means for mounting the selected disc to another side against said bias means so as to form a first space for disposing said disc driving means on one side of said selected disc mounting means, and for forming said first space.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, it comprises a position restricting means for restricting, when the disc mounting means exists on one side of said selected disc mounting means, movement of the one-side disc mounting means to another side, wherein the position of the one-side disc mounting means is restricted to form said first space between the selected disc mounting means and the one-side disc mounting means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device such that, said position restricting means is formed with said control means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said position restricting means comprises a face of said control means along said moving direction.
According to the disc recording and/or reproducing device, the first space is formed on one side of the selected disc mounting means with a selected disc mounted in the placed disc mounting means, into which the rotation supporting means is inserted to mount the selected disc, allowing sure mounting on the disc.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, it comprises a disc holding means for holding said selected disc between the disc holding means and said rotation supporting means, wherein when the disc mounting means exists on another side of said selected disc mounting means, said control means forms a second space between said selected disc mounting means and said another-side disc mounting means to dispose said disc holding means.
According to such disc recording and/or reproducing device, it comprises a disc holding means for holding said selected disc between the disc holding means and said rotation supporting means, allowing reproduction of the disc in the holding state, resulting in no possible occurrence of disengagement of the disc during reproduction.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, a pair of said control means is arranged so that movement thereof leads to formation of said first space on one side of the selected disc mounting means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said pair of control means comprises said position restricting means.
According to the disc recording and/or reproducing device, a pair of said control means is arranged, obtaining stabilized support for the disc mounting means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, a pair of said separation control parts is arranged to move thereby said selected disc mounting means to another side.
According to such disc recording and/or reproducing device, a pair of said separation control parts is arranged with the control means, obtaining stabilized support for the disc mounting means.
A disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that it comprises: a plurality of disc mounting means for mounting discs thereon; a support means for placing said plurality of disc mounting means one upon another and movably supporting them in the placing direction; a disc driving means for driving a rotation supporting means for mounting and rotatably supporting a selected disc; a disc holding means for holding the disc mounted on said rotation supporting means; a bias means for biasing said disc mounting means in one side of the placing direction; and a control means for forming a first space for disposing said disc driving means on one side of the selected disc mounting means on which the selected disc is mounted, and a second space for disposing said disc holding means on another side thereof, wherein said control means comprises: a first separation control part for moving to said another side said selected disc mounting means and the disc mounting means on another side compared with the selected disc mounting means in accordance with movement of a first half of said control means; a second separation control part for moving to said another side only said disc mounting means on another side compared with said selected disc mounting means in accordance with movement of a second half of said control means; and a third separation control part arranged between the first and second separation control parts and for holding said selected disc mounting means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, it comprises a position restricting means for restricting, when the disc mounting means exists on one side of said selected disc mounting means, movement of the one-side disc mounting means to another side, wherein the position of the one-side disc mounting means is restricted to form said first space between the selected disc mounting means and the one-side disc mounting means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said position restricting means is arranged with said control means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said position restricting means comprises a face of said control means along said moving direction.
According to the disc recording and/or reproducing device, spaces are formed on both sides of the selected disc mounting means, into which the rotation supporting means and the disc holding means are inserted, respectively, allowing sure holding of the disc. Therefore, the vibration characteristics are excellent during reproduction, resulting in no occurrence of disengagement of the disc with the rotation supporting means as is produced in the prior art.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said third separation control part includes a lowering control part for lowering said selected disc mounting means to dispose said selected disc on the rotation supporting means disposed in said first space.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said disc mounting means is arranged with a spring means for pressing the disc from another side, wherein the spring means releases pressing of the disc by said control means.
According to the disc recording and/or reproducing device, there are arranged a lowering control part and a spring means, allowing mounting of the selected disc on the rotation supporting means only by moving the control means and separation of the disc mounting means from the selected disc after holding it, having excellent operability.
A disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that it comprises: a disc compartment comprising a plurality of disc mounting means placed one upon another, on which discs are mounted; a recording and/or reproducing means for selectively recording and/or reproducing a disc mounted on a selected one of said plurality of disc mounting means; an ejection means for ejecting the disc mounted on said disc mounting means; a control means, which moves along a line substantially perpendicular to said placing direction, for starting said recording and/or reproducing means when reaching a first position on one side along the line, and said ejection means when reaching a second position on another side along the line.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, it comprises a space forming means for moving in the placing direction the disc mounting means in said disc compartment and adjacent to the selected disc mounting means so as to form a first space on one side of the placing direction of the selected disc mounting means, wherein said recording and/or reproducing means ensures action of moving a disc driving means for holding and rotating/driving the disc to the first space formed by said space forming means, and wherein said ejection means ensures action of opening a shutter of a disc loading/unloading opening and moving the disc to said loading/unloading opening.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said control means comprises a startup plate having a first engagement engaging with said recording and/or reproducing means and a second engagement engaging with said ejection means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said control means comprises a startup plate having a first engagement engaging with said recording and/or reproducing means and a second engagement engaging with said ejection means.
According to the invention, contradictory action of the recording and/or reproducing means and the ejection means can be ensured by the only one control means (startup plate), so that there is no need to separately arrange a startup means for starting the recording and/or reproducing means and a startup means for starting the ejection means, obtaining simplified device configuration and reduced number of parts, resulting in a reduction in size of the entire device.
A disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that it comprises: a disc compartment comprising a plurality of disc mounting means movably placed one upon another in the placing direction and for mounting discs thereon; a space forming means arranged with a pickup lifting/lowering means moving in the disc placing direction in said disc compartment and for forming spaces on one and another sides of the moving direction of the disc mounting means on which a selected disc is mounted; a rotation supporting means for mounting said selected disc thereon and rotating/supporting it; a disc holding means for holding the disc between the disc holding means and said rotation supporting means; and an optical pickup for recording and/or reproducing the disc mounted on said rotation supporting means.
According to such invention, the optical pickup is vertically moved with respect to the disc compartment, allowing a reduction in device thickness compared with the conventional device wherein the disc compartment is vertically moved with respect to the optical pickup. Moreover, the optical pickup and the space forming means are moved vertically simultaneously by the pickup lifting/lowering means allowing simplified structure and reduced time for disc change accordingly.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said space forming means is movably arranged with said pickup lifting/lowering means, and said rotation supporting means is rotatably arranged with a hold means rotatably provided with said pickup lifting/lowering means.
According to such invention, a series of actions of vertically moving the pickup lifting/lowering means up to the position of the selected disc before sliding the space forming means to form spaces above and below the selected disc and rotating the hold means allows movement of the rotation supporting means to the position of the selected disc.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said hold means comprises: a first arm provided with said rotation supporting means; a second arm provided with said disc holding means; and a restriction means for moving said disc holding means and restricting movement thereof.
According to such invention, the rotation supporting means and the disc holding means are moved to the center of the selected disc by the first and second arms of the holding means before moving the disc holding means, allowing the selected disc to be held (chucked) on the rotation supporting means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said restriction means includes a first restriction means for restricting movement of said disc holding means, and a second restriction means for releasing restriction by the first restriction means.
According to such invention, the restriction means arranged with the hold means allows sure achievement of holding and releasing of the disc by the disc holding means.
The disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that, said optical pickup is movably arranged with said first arm.
According to such invention, by rotating said first arm after moving in advance the optical pickup to the side of the rotation supporting means at the head of the first arm, the pickup is moved to the recording/reproduction start position at the instant when the rotation supporting means is moved to the disc mounting position, allowing a further reduction in time for disc change.
A disc recording and/or reproducing device is constructed such that it comprises: a disc compartment comprising a plurality of disc mounting means placed one upon another, on which discs are mounted; a bias means for providing a pressing force on one side of said placing direction in said disc compartment to stabilize said disc mounting means; and a space forming means, moved in the direction substantially perpendicular to the placing direction of said disc mounting means, for moving said disc mounting means to another side against the pressing force of said bias means, said space forming means having a circular part formed in a portion thereof abutting on said disc mounting means so as to obtain a substantially uniform load during said movement.
According to such invention, the circular part of the space forming means includes a circular arc providing substantially uniform load during movement, obtaining the substantially same power load for the space forming means in any of the initial, middle and final stages of separating action for separating the disc mounting means in the placing direction. As a result, the efficiency is significantly excellent for power for driving the space forming means.
Moreover, the circular part of the space forming means has shorter stroke than the conventional inclined line at a predetermined angle, allowing reduced dimension of the space forming means in the moving direction (direction perpendicular to the placing direction of the disc mounting means), leading thereby to possible reduction in size of the entire device.